Men’s African Club Championship down to final four

9 November 2012

Cairo, Egypt, May 2, 2011 – The Egyptian duo of Al Ahly and El Guish booked their places in the semifinals of the 2011 Men’s African Club Championship in Cairo, Egypt on Monday as National university of Rwanda and Kenya’s prisons also came through their quarterfinal bouts.

Ahly will now take on El Guish in an all Egyptian semifinal on Wednesday 4th of May, while University of Rwanda faces Prisons for a place in the final. The winners of the tournament will move on to the FIVB Men's Club World Championship in Qatar later this year.

Among the 4 quarterfinal matches held at Abdalla El Faysal Hall, University of Rwanda played the most exciting match and fought for two hours to defeat the more experience Blida team of Algeria in a fantastic 5- set match 3-2 (20-25, 25-17, 12-25, 25-23, 15-12) that made the spectators on their toes at the venue.

Prisons of Kenya came one more step towards the dream of being the only team all over the world to qualify in both genders for the Club World Championship when they hammered Setif of Algeria 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 26-24).

Among the 16 teams of the competition only Al Ahly and El Guish from Egypt were the only teams who won all the competition matches without dropping a set.

The competition will be resimed on Tuesday with the 4 qualrterfianl matches of the 9 to 16 brackets.

Al Ahly (EGY) vs. FAP (CMR)

The host team Al Ahly of Egypt used their wing spikers Ahmed Kotb to clinch an easy victory over FAP of Cameroon 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-15) in 55 minutes. Al Ahly qualified to the semifinal for the 15th time while FAP plays for the 5-8 brackets.

The Egyptian opposite Ahmed Kotb was the match star after he succeeded to penetrate FAP block frequently and also he sent his sharp spike service frequently that disturbed their defense.

National University (RWA) vs. Blida (ALG)

National University of Rwanda rebounded two times from one set to outclass the struggling Blida team of Algeria 3-2 (20-25, 25-17, 12-25, 25-23, 15-12) in 115 minutes. The strong Rwandan spiker Guma Yakan played a great role in the victory with his razor sharp hits sent from all the net position and came as the match scorer with 26 points. After Blida won the first set the Rwanda team reached their first peak to win the second set widely before their curve went back again allowing the Algerian team to win the forth set with the widest point difference 25-12. Again University team returned back efficiently to win the forth set and the tiebreak to qualify for the second time in their history to the semifinal after the first in Benin in 2005. Blida plays for the 5-8 brackets.

Prisons (KEN) vs. Setif (ALG)

Prisons of Kenya came one more step towards the dream of being the only team all over the world to qualify in both genders for the Club World Championship when they hammered Setif of Algeria 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 26-24). The Kenyan team was physically fit enough to control through the block of Jackson Mwambia and Denis Onsomu as the solid block was the key factor of the victory. The latter was the match scorer (18 points) while the Setif’s center Adamu Dou Dou was his team scorer (14 pts).

Prisons qualified to the semifinal to meet University of Rwanda while Setif plays Blida for the play off 5-8 positions.

El Guish (EGY) vs. Port Douala (CMR)

Al Guish of Egypt 63 minutes to trounce Port de Douala of Cameroon in straight sets (25-20, 25-11, 25-22). The wing spiker of El Guish Islam Awad was the key factor of the victory as he sent his unstoppable hits from position 4 that weren’t tolerated by Port’s block. El Guish also depended on the solid block of Emmanuel Friday and Rashad Shebl to stop Port’s attacks.

Al Guish qualified the semifinal for the second time in their history after 2007 when they finished second and they will take on their compatriots Al Ahly in the semifinal while Port plays their rivals FAP for the 5-8 brackets.